1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the mounting of electronic equipment and, more particularly, to means for extracting and securing units of electronic equipment onto a shelf or avionic rack.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The development of electronic equipment has been generally standardized into set sizes of electronic units to accommodate their use in various structures, for example, aircraft. To support these electronic units, appropriate support structures, such as avionic trays and rack have been developed to securely support and safeguard this expensive equipment against destruction. Since it is necessary to provide electrical connections to the units of electronic equipment, the mounting of the electrical units are the mounting structure must be precisely accomplished to insure proper alignment between the connectors on the electronic units and the electrical connectors in the mounting structure and to maintain the units in a secure position without introducing damaging forces on the connector.
Particular problems occur in vehicles such as aircraft that are subject to vibration and substantial stresses. Many of these problems have been solved with the use of an extractor as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,640,141 granted Feb. 8, 1972. With this slip clutch extractor hold down apparatus, it is possible to securely lock the electronic unit to the rack and to both insert and remove the unit from its electrical connections.
Problems have occurred in providing a conventional mounting for the extractor hold down apparatus due to the limited amount of space available for pivotably anchoring the hold down device.
It has been found that frequently an application of force would pivot the electronic unit about its lower rear edge on its electronical connector and this would exert a large amount of stress on the electrical connection pins that extend into the body of the electronic unit. This problem is particularly acute in aircraft where the space available is necessarily kept at a minimum and thus the location of the extractor hold down and its angular relationship to the shelf and electronic unit is limited.